Half Hunter Princess, Half Bronco Buster. All Awesome.

I haven't done this in a while. I've been quite busy, even though I've gotten a few good chances to ride. I've worked in the back field several times, and I've worked in the pasture for three days in a row. The arena has been nasty, but I think it will be okay to ride in tomorrow.

It felt really good to ride in my English saddle today. I don't think I've been in one since my last lesson at school. Stella usually gets really wild out in the open, so I've been using Larry's old Western saddle. We went riding a while back, before Christmas, because we got tired of working on the roof. It was very fun. 

The day before yesterday was the first time I'd worked in the pasture for a long time. I worked Stella on the longe line for a long time because I thought she might be very silly when I got on her. She was actually very good for me. She was also good for me yesterday. We didn't ride very long yesterday because it was late by the time I actually got on Stella. Today was the greatest, though.

Larry brought Mindy over so that we could ride. Mindy and I rode Chester in the pasture, which was a lot of fun. I love riding him. He's one of the best, calmest horses I've been lucky enough to ride. He's also Mac's younger brother, so I feel especially close to him. I see him do little things that Mac used to do, and it makes me both very happy (because a little part of Mac is still alive) and very sad (because Mac himself is not here). It's amazing that he's a two-year-old stallion. Mindy and I swear that we'll be able to take him to AQHA World one day :) 

After we worked Chester, we worked Tatiana. I worked Tatiana on the longe line and Mindy rode her. I figured that I would "save my hip" for Stella, as Mindy wanted us to jump today. 

The four of us (Larry, Mindy, my sister, and me) went to Subway for lunch. We ate on the porch with Abby, and then we had oranges. Mindy told me that two guys in line at Subway were checking me out before I walked in. That made me laugh. Maybe they had some sort of equestrian fetish. Hehehe.

I helped my sister get on Sissy after we ate. Now she's allowed to ride with her walking boot on, so she rode around a little with one stirrup. I'm glad she's riding again. After I walked around with her a bit, I brought Stella out and schooled her on the flat a little bit. She was very, very calm. We did plenty of trotting and cantering around before Larry got off the roof and came to help us jump. I led Stella over the jump the first time. I decided that I wouldn't ride the crossrail on her back unless I was sure she would agree to go over it. I'm at the point where I just can't fight anymore. It hurts too much. She was very agreeable about it, and she actually seemed really excited. I got back on her, walked over the jump once, and then trotted her over a few times. She got really excited about the whole thing, and I think she was really enjoying herself. One time, we approached at a trot, but Stella wanted to canter. I asked her to canter it because cantering is easier on both of us. She jumped it beautifully, or at least it felt beautiful. She didn't want to stop after the jump and let out a few small bucks, I guess because she was just so excited. I almost fell off, shouted something rather inappropriate, and then started laughing. She bucked a few more times after the jump, but I forced her to lift her head and quit being so silly. It really hurt my hip, even though I prepared before my ride by taking a pain pill. Mindy jumped Stella a few times. Mindy also wrapped her scarf around Stella's neck, which I took a picture of. Stella liked the scarf, even though she was a little scared of it at first. 

I cleaned a lot of stalls and fed the horses tonight, so I also feel very productive :)

Epic Fails and Other Tales

I should've made an entry yesterday, but I didn't. I get to type a long one tonight, which is okay with me :) 

Yesterday, Larry and I rode up to the therapeutic riding center to take BJ back. Abby was absolutely crazy in the truck, and we threatened to throw her in the "living quarters" of the trailer. To be honest with you, she'd probably have been in the best part of the entire truck and trailer. Larry bought a normal four-horse trailer with a decent gooseneck and storage area, and he basically turned it into a living quarters trailer. He has a fridge, a microwave, cabinets, cedar paneling and flooring, custom trunks, a lamp and nightlight, and a big comfy mattress (I speak from experience--all those naps and nights in the back of the trailer have been wonderful.) with lots of pillows and blankets. It's really amazing, and he did it all himself. I digress, as usual. 

I got to see Nancy again and watch a few of the instructors and volunteers school the horses. Larry also schooled BJ, which was nice to watch. Abby was crazy out in the arena and barn because so many people were excited about petting her. It was fun, even though it was really cold out. 

I also helped Larry with the barn after we got back from our little trip. We cleaned lots of stalls and fed the horses. We also learned just how retarded Stella is. Stella and Sydney live in a separate barn (They aren't bad, they just happen to be the two who live in the "extra" stalls which can convert to a foaling stall if we need that sort of thing.), and they both have double doors instead of sliding doors. I opened Stella's bottom door while the top door was closed and locked. I left it open so that I could bring a wheelbarrow up to the door and pick her stall. Stella noticed the opening, put her head down, and proceeded to try to walk under the door. She approached at a good Stella walk, bumped her withers on the top door, threw her head up, backed up, thrashed around, almost fell, and then regained her composure as if she were saying, "I knew that door was there. I was just testing it." I laughed at her a lot, even though I had been very scared that she was going to fall.

I went to the barn again tonight and had a pretty good time. I cleaned some more stalls, estimated Stella's weight with a height/weight tape (She's about 950 lbs.), and... Aggh. I fail epically at pushing wheelbarrows up the ramp and into the manure spreader. I've got the bruises to prove it. I had a fairly heavy wheelbarrow full of wet sawdust and manure, but I managed to push it all the way up the ramp. Then, the stupid old wheelbarrow started tipping over. I slipped a bit when I tried to keep it from toppling off the edge of the ramp, fell down the ramp onto my butt, and the wheelbarrow came down with me. I thought I was either going to get hit in the face with the wheelbarrow, which would have hurt, or have the whole thing flip on me, which would have been pretty gross. I survived, though, and Larry happened to miss the whole thing :) 

That wasn't my first time falling down the ramp, either. That thing is dangerous... 

After we finished up in the barn, we went inside. I had some hot chocolate while Larry and Jean drank coffee, and then we made some more horse cookies. Larry is hysterical in the kitchen, in case I haven't already said that. 

I'll end this with two inspirational Larry quotes:

"There ain't no such thing as try!"

"There ain't no such thing as can't!" 

That's what he always yells at me when he either tells me to do something and I say that I'll try or that I can't do it. There is nothing less than success at Larry's barn! 

Good Like Larry's Homemade Horse Treats :)

My break has started out pretty good. I've gotten to spend a lot of time at the barn already, which is great. I spent pretty much all day there today, which made me very happy. 

Larry and Jean made homemade horse cookies last night. They're delicious--lots of molasses, carrots, apples, oats, and peppermint pieces, with a little sugar, flour, and canola oil to make them cookie-like. Stella loves them, and all of the other horses do too. It was really funny watching Larry and Jean working in the kitchen. Larry was putting dollops of cookie "dough" on the sheet while Jean made them round and spread them apart. She fussed at Larry because there were six cookie dollops on the first row and only five on the others. They were having so much fun together. 

Today, I went to the barn early this morning to help Larry and to ride. Larry asked me if I'd help him with the roof of the house. Because I'm afraid of heights and because I know nothing about putting shingles on a roof, he said I could pick up the old pieces of shingles off the ground and put them on a trailer. It wasn't too bad except that I was constantly worried about stepping on the square nails that were standing point-up and waiting for me to place my foot carelessly on top of them. I didn't step on any of them, which I was very happy about. I got a lot of work done, so Larry made me a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. He fed me horse cookies and an orange for dessert. Then, we went out to the barn to give the horses some treats and to ride. 

I worked Stella on the longe line for a while because I knew we were taking the horses to the back field. She was downright lazy in the arena, but I knew she was going to go absolutely mad in the back field. I put Larry's work saddle on her and we rode down the path to the back field.

The back field is a rather uncomfortable place for me to ride. I don't know if I've written about this or not, but Mac's grave is in the back field. There's something about riding beside his grave that upsets me, as if he can still (or even would, if he could) care that I'm riding Stella now. Add the fact that Stella goes crazy when she works in the open, and there's a huge mess of ping-pong balls spilled everywhere and no one capable of picking them up. 

When Stella "makes bad decisions," which I sometimes say as a little euphemism, I joke that the bucket of ping-pong balls in her head got tipped over and the balls started bouncing around everywhere :) 

She wasn't too bad, though. She gets better each time we go out, usually. We trotted with a lot more control than I've ever had in the open, and she actually halted from a canter without having her head hauled around to my knee. It was kind of fun, too. Larry and I switched horses for a while, so I rode Sissy. I didn't like the stirrups on the new saddle that Larry was using, so I rode without them. Sissy and I jogged around for a while and did a few serpentines. She's a very nice horse to ride. She spooked when we were walking back to the barn because Abby ran up behind us. Stella spooked after that because Sissy spooked. That's Stella for you...

My back and hip were really hurting. I took a pain pill after I finished with the shingles and before I even brought Stella in from the pasture. The "maximum dose" didn't help me AT ALL, but I didn't take any more for several reasons, one of which was that I had to drive later and I'm not supposed to have any if I'm going to be behind the wheel. I was in a lot of pain and it sucked, but I'm not hurting so much now. I have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and he's finally going to check my hip. 

After our ride, Larry and I took care of our horses, cleaned the barn, fed the horses, and finished everything up for the night. I had to go home, but Larry said that he would take me with him to the therapeutic riding center tomorrow. BJ has to go back home.

We'll see how that goes. I'm so happy I got to spend the whole day at the barn with Larry.

A Ride on the Blessed Beast

I got to ride Stella this weekend, even though it was terribly cold and she was energetic from her long break from work. 

I went to the barn on Friday to clean some stalls and brush the horses. I helped brush Chester and then got Stella so that I could give her a very thorough grooming. I picked her feet, curried her, combed her mane and tail, brushed her face, brushed her body, rubbed her body, straightened her mane (I made sure her forelock was in the middle of her forehead and brought all of her funky mane to one side.), and put some ointment on a wound. She also got some peppermints, which she loves. 

On Saturday, I actually rode. I brushed Stella and put her on the longe line for a while. She's in season, she hadn't worked in ages, and it was cold. All of that together should have meant that Stella would be a lit firecracker between my thighs. She was a very good girl, though. She moved so wonderfully off my leg and worked so beautifully, even though she kept on asking me to let her go faster. I cued her into a trot, and it felt amazing. She got a little crazy after a while. I had a bottle of my pain pills in my pocket, and it was rattling every time I rose to the trot. I decided to take off my jacket; I wasn't that cold, and Stella did calm down a little bit after I put my jacket over the fence rail. A few times, Stella actually broke into a canter when I applied my leg at the trot. She was having a great time, and she was just begging to canter. I finally let her canter, and she really put everything she had into it. She was never out of control or behaving badly by any means. She just gave me a very powerful, energetic canter. It was truly amazing. I even allowed her to hand-gallop a little. It was somewhat difficult for me to two-point because I was using Larry's saddle and the horn kept getting in my way. It was okay, though. We had a blast. Stella was extremely responsive. As soon as I sat down in the saddle, she slowed to a normal canter, and deepening my seat and slightly squeezing the reins halted her. 

I'm happy that she was happy to make me happy :) I miss her so much when I'm at school, and I miss riding her all the time. I can't believe that I hated her when I first started to ride her. 

I think I've already written about Mac once or twice in this blog, but I'll tell the story again. Mac was euthanized about a year and a half ago. I had been working with him in the same way that I work with Stella now--he was really Larry's horse, but he was mine on his papers and I was his main caretaker and the only person who ever really rode him. He developed some kind of neurological disease and kept falling, but we thought he was going to get better. I didn't really expect to ride him again, but I didn't expect him to die. He was in the prime of life; he was about to turn 10. 

I never wanted to go back to the barn. I just wanted to give up on riding, and basically living. Larry eventually "forced" me to come back to the barn (To this day, I assert that he MADE me come back, even though I really think there was tiny little part of me left that wanted to go back and try to rebuild my life.) and got me to ride another person's horse at Mindy's house. I made excuses--I didn't have a helmet, my hip hurt, everything--so that I wouldn't have to ride the horse, but I eventually mounted up in a gigantic, borrowed helmet and rode the horse without stirrups around the ring. I cried the entire time. Mindy tried to get me to smile every time I passed her, but I couldn't. I just cried harder. 

Then, I went to our barn for the first time after Mac died, and I cried again. Mac's stall was empty, and I couldn't go in there for a long time. I couldn't walk on or face that side of the barn for a while either. I started riding Stella, and she gave me a whole lot of crap. She basically did the stuff that she does when she's nervous--spooking, bolting, wheeling around, throwing her head into the air. I spent a long time just angry with her. I hated her. I didn't want to deal with her. I wanted to go home and never ride again. I don't know what happened. I guess I realized that Mac wasn't coming back and that I was going to have to work with Stella from then on. I actually felt, for a while, that Mac's death was a sick joke and that he'd be in his stall the next time I went out to the barn and we'd all have a good laugh about how cute he was when he was lying in the stall and eating his hay while lying on a pillow of saddle blankets. I didn't want to love Stella because I didn't want her to be able to "replace" Mac, so maybe being angry with her was my screwed-up way of protecting myself. 

I thought I might share that before I say the next thing. Yesterday night, however, I was playing with Stella in the crossties and brushing her face. I looked into her eyes, and I swear I was brought to tears out of my love for her. It was a beautiful moment. I love her so much. 

I'm tearing up now.

Today I also went to the barn. I cleaned a stall and then played with Stella in her stall for a while. She loves gloves, so she played with my gloves for a while. She also played with my jacket and its zipper. Then she nipped me, so she had to get slapped on the shoulder. She got over it, though, and we played some more. I petted her a lot and scratched her neck, and I said goodbye to her before I had to leave. 

I can't wait until I get to see her again on Friday :) I'll have a whole month to play with her.

Fun and goodbyes.

Today was the last riding class of the semester. It was a whole lot of fun, even though it was really sad too. 

We spent the day playing games. I rode Bugsy AGAIN, but it was okay because we weren't jumping. I also took a pain pill before I left, so I'm not in too much pain right now. Bugsy was actually really great for me. 

The first game was a race involving those red Solo cups (See, they're good for all sorts of games!) and chunks of rubber arena footing. We had to race across the ring, pick up a single piece of footing, race back, put it in the cup, and get as many pieces of footing in the cup as we could in tw0 and a half minutes. I had three in my cup before Bugsy nosed the cup over, and then I got two more after. It was a whole lot of fun. 

The next game was "musical blankets." Teresa set out a bunch of old saddle pads on the ground on the inside track of the ring, and we had to trot along the outside track while music was playing. When the music stopped, we had to get some part of at least one hoof on a blanket. It was really fun, even though I was the third one out. I sat sidesaddle in the middle for a while, which was fun. Bugsy wasn't as cooperative with the leg over his head as Stella usually is, which surprised me. 

The final game was a relay race. It was the chestnuts versus the paints/bays. I was on the chestnut team, and I was the third person to go each time. Each person had a different task to complete while crossing the ring to pass off the crop. The first rider (Heather) had to ride a sitting trot, the second rider had to ride any gait without stirrups (Shannon cantered.), the third rider had to ride any gait in two-point (Moire cantered.), and I had to ride any gait without stirrups (I cantered.). We lost both times, but it was so much fun. 

I like gymkhana games. They remind me of why I ride.

After the lesson, we untacked, ate some wonderful peanut-butter-chocolate brownies (courtesy of Shannon), and talked in a circle outside of the barn. I'm going to miss everyone so much. Some people are moving up to Intermediate like me, but I don't think anyone else is in the class that I signed up for. Some people are staying in Hi-Elementary. 

I was thinking about joining the team next semester, but after hearing tales of the brutal social hierarchy, I'm not so sure. I hate, and always will hate, excessive competition and rude people. 

NOM NOM NOM, Shannon made some bangin' brownies :) 

Epic, but in a different sense of the word.

I rode Bugsy again today, for the last jumping lesson of the semester. Today was not a good lesson at all, but I made the best of it. 

I started out with no stirrups on my saddle, so I had to snitch a pair from another saddle. That problem was solved quickly and without a whole lot of fuss. If we hadn't been jumping, I would've just worked without them. 

Jumping today sucked. I took a pain pill before I went to the barn in hopes that I would be able to avoid any hip pain. Hahahaha. Yeah. My hip started to hurt a little when we cantered. I decided I was going to ride properly, no matter what. I sat in the saddle and refused to two-point my canter, even if I couldn't finish the ride. Well, that didn't kill me...

Our first jump was bad. Bugsy approached the jump really well. He trotted straight to it, happy as any little pony could be, came to a near-stop, and proceeded to jump the fence. It wasn't comfortable for me, I lost a stirrup, and I jabbed the poor pony in the mouth because I seriously didn't think he could make the jump from a standstill and wasn't ready to take the fence. 

Then, we had to do the first jump again and a line. The whole line, evidently. I thought we were supposed to circumvent the crossrail in the line and go straight for the second vertical in the line. It was really difficult to maneuver, but I managed it quite well--and then Teresa told me I was supposed to take the whole line. I wondered why the turn was so difficult X_x

Then, we did the first jump, the WHOLE line, and another vertical that was out there somewhere. The first jump and the line were nothing special. I took the first jump with one hand because the other hand was using a crop to smack some Bugsy butt. That was no big deal. I don't rely on my hands at all, and it was actually kind of fun. I've always wanted to take a jump with my arms outstretched, like I'm flying. Maybe I'll do that in the future, once I get Stella jumping and my hip fixed :) The fourth jump, the hay bale vertical, was a disaster, though.

Have you ever seen someone fall off at a horse show? It was like that, kind of. Everyone was lined up on the rail next to the jump. Something funky happened with the jump, Bugsy took the jump and went one way, and I started going another way. Everyone was like "Ohhhh!" and "Ahhh!" and "Gasp!" I definitely thought I was falling off for a few seconds, but then I remembered that I am the master of "nice saves" :D I'd lost my near stirrup, but I threw my weight to the off side and managed to land with my butt in the saddle. 

However, not all was good. I was spared a mouthful of dirt at the cost of being able to walk. I'd already taken the one pain pill before my ride, but I could barely manage the walk back to the barn. I had to take another one as soon as I got back, which had some extremely pleasant consequences :) First, I was just in pain. Then, there was the euphoria. It was SO nice. Then, there was the drowsiness, which wasn't so nice. The drowsiness lasted until the medicine had almost worn off. My hip wasn't too bad when I could finally feel it again, so I chose not to take another pill. I'll see how I am in the morning.

Thanksgiving break

I went to the barn a few times over break, but I didn't ride even once :( 

I mostly played with Jack and Stella. Larry was off at another Quarter Horse show with Mindy, so I couldn't see either of them or play with Abby. Jack and I went down to the back field, where I talked to Mac for a while and climbed into the treestand again. I also went down to the pond and went out into the woods. I took lots of pictures, and I learned that my camera has a timer. I had a whole lot of fun with that. I was swinging on vines and stuff, and I got a few good pictures. 

I also experimented with the horses in the pasture. I carried the mounting block out into the pasture, sat it down, and stood up on it. All of the horses--Tina, Jessie, Sydney, and Tatiana--came moseying up to me to see what I was doing. Stella was the LAST one to come and see me. Each horse had their own reaction. Jessie was actually really scared. I reached my hand out to her, and she jumped away from me. Tatiana and Sydney came up to me a little bit and were a little wary, but they lost interest and started grazing nearby. Stella finally walked up to me, pushed me once with her nose, played with me a little, and started grazing again. Tina would not leave me alone! She squiggled, she nosed, she looked over every inch of my body, she played with the block and tried to knock it over... That horse is so precious :) Jessie never forgave me for scaring her. I walked over to her and tried to pet her, but she trotted off. It was really fun, and I was really interested in their reactions. 

I think that BJ is weird. He was doing a leg-lift-kick-head-turn-colicky thing, and it scared me to death. Jean had just fed him, and he ate every bite, which REALLY scared me. I got out the stethoscope and listened to his gut, but I didn't hear very much. Then, he pooped and I figured he was just being weird. He was alternating between both back legs, too, so it's not like he was injured or anything.

I wish I could have gone riding this weekend.

Oh, and I got the results of my MRI. The doctor said I have a slight bulge in the disc between L4 and L5, but that it's so close to being normal, that he's going to search for the cause of my pain in my hip joints next.